2016

Our Story

Ben and I met in 1996, began dating in 1999 and married in 2001. Now 20 years and 2 children later, we have returned to where our life together began. Ben works for the Federal Reserve and I have the privilege of staying home with our two precious boys.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

This was the week of feasts! Both boys had school programs and Thanksgiving feasts this week. Caden's was up first on Tuesday. It finally hit me that we are nearing the end of Shadowbrook. There were a few tears shed at this one. He was his normal, stand before a crowd self, and came in straight-faced, upon which he maintained the entire program.

Once the program ended and he was no longer on stage, a smile finally came out.

Caden and his little friend, Luca

After the program, we moved into the Family Life Center for the feast. The school always does such a fabulous job with everything from kid created tablescapes to a home cooked traditional Thanksgiving meal!

Caden created a placemat, a Fruits of the Spirit burlap wall hanging, a painted clay pumpkin, and a painted framed picture that he drew of our family sitting at the dinner table. So sweet!

Our last Shadowbrook Thanksgiving Feast!

The next day, we headed to Ivy Creek to watch Ethan's class present a Reader's Theater titled The First Thanksgiving. These 1st graders did a great job! Reader's Theater is a little more difficult because the kiddos have to follow along in order to know when to speak as opposed to memorizing lines. What a great teachable moment put to good use!

Ethan was also an Indian in his play and he was thrilled to see us there :-)

Love his expression!

The whole class had costumes that his teacher created

We got to spend a few minutes with him before it was time for the feast.

Then it was feast time! Instead of sitting with his class, the cafeteria is decorated with table coverings and each student wrote what they were thankful for on a leaf and they were scattered across the tables for students and families to read. The kiddos were able to sit wherever they liked with their family members and we sat with sweet Ashley and Michaela. It was neat sitting at a different table with a friend who wasn't in his class :-)

The week is coming to an end and we have a full weekend planned with special visitors and an exciting week ahead! What a great way to start Thanksgiving!

Every October we head over to the Buford Corn Maze for an afternoon of hay rides and fun.

This year, Zac, Rylie, and little Merideth were able to go with us!

Daddy and his boys

First stop was the hay ride, a family favorite!

Going through the forest

Picture pose

Then pony rides

Followed by some bouncing

Then a little playground time

Crawling through and jumping from some tractor tires

Racing through the mini maze

Some baby swinging

Checking out the petting zoo

And one last silly picture before we left!

The next day, Caden had his Halloween cookies and milk party with sweet little neighborhood friends. He came up with this idea all on his own and we put together a plan that started with some pumpkin painting.

Then he and his friends made some spooky PB&J's, pumpkin cakes, spider crackers, witches hats, and broom sticks with some chocolate chip and sugar cookies thrown in to go along with our white and chocolate milk. Sadly, even though the camera sat out the whole time, I didn't think to take any pictures until the party was over and I was cleaning up :-(

Here are the leftovers:

Then on Sunday afternoon the Dads and kiddos carved pumpkins

Followed by the big day, it was finally Halloween!

Who ya gonna call?

Ready to go!

Trick-or-treating time

The boys walked further this year than ever before, scored a bunch of candy, and were home bathed and in bed not too terribly late. I would call that a successful Halloween!

Friday, November 4, 2016

The weekend after the field trip we spent a FRIGID weekend at Camp Rainey Mountain up in Clayton with all of the other Northeast Georgia cub scout packs for our fall family pack camping trip. The boys had a great time, but the temperatures were around 35 degrees at night. Each den had specific activities to participate in and some events involved the whole pack. While the boys did many activities throughout the weekend, pictures are scarce because I was trying to stay warm!

Pack against pack Tug of War

Metal stamped leather bracelets

Archery

Hiking trip to the waterfall

The Tigers from our pack

Ethan and Caden spent the weekend playing with 4 other of our tigers from our den as well as 30 other families from our pack. The boys made memories and I was so excited that Caden had the same opportunities to participate that Ethan did!